


Radio Silence in TV Land

by Valdyr



Series: The Angel Within [7]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: But in this case I really am, Episode: s05e08 Changing Channels, Family Feels, I'm Sorry, Lack of Communication, M/M, Normally I'd say Not Sorry now, Self-Harm, This hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-18 18:53:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10623021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valdyr/pseuds/Valdyr
Summary: Dean and Sam encounter the Trickster and the moment he sees him Lucifer falls silent.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I just realized that without Castiel's canonical revival the Winchesters don't even know how to trap angels, yet. Huh, I had to work around that.

Was there any better state of being than sore in ass and throat from getting fucked by the devil and screaming his name?

Probably not. At least Sam couldn't think of any. Okay, an unnaturally long forked tongue rimming him as deeply as a a human's cock would go was pretty neat, too. But not like the afterglow. And not like Luci taking him back to the mind palace once the limits of his worldly stamina were reached, because such did not exist in his mind. In there, they could go on and on and on until he felt completely raw and twitched every now and then and it still felt so very good.

They were lying beside each other on the mammoth rug right now. Because of course Luci had met them and remembered well enough to recreate it for one of the bedrooms of their mind palace. The other dominating feature of the room was the fireplace as big as half the wall. Sam doubted that there were panorama furnaces in real like. But this one, the flickering flames with a background of carved stone, was perfectly under control.

Lucifer always had everything under control. It was kind of annoying. Sam had had enough of his father and smaller big brother bossing him around to last him a lifetime. But Lucifer was an archangel, so it was kind of implicit. He had the experience and could show Sam so many knew things. Like temperature play with burning wing feathers tickling his crack, while the fingers pinching his nipples turned icy and his cock wept untouched.

Because apparently the devil was in fact quite literally cold, associated with fire only due to what hell had done to him. But then, he was the morning star, a harbinger of light who dwelled in the dark. And the night he arose within was cold. As interesting as that was, though, Sam mostly cared about the kitten licks on his inner thigh at the time being.

They were travelling in the direction of where he wanted them, but then stopped. He whined, but the devil just chuckled and moved away again. Now, however, with nibbles. Years of hunting monsters that wanted to eat him should have caused a less enthusiastic reaction, he knew, but there was just something about Lucifer biting into him, marking him and calling him his personal gift. His one and only.

It made him really warm and fuzzy and he tried to snuggle into his partner, pulling a wing over himself as a more intimate kind of blanket, but Lucifer withdrew.

"Don't be a tease!"

"I'm not. Sorry, Sammy, but Dean's shaking our body."

"What?"

"I had to move us back at some point during the night, but now it's morning and he is trying to shake you awake. I could keep you here, of course. But he might get worried."

"Oh for crying out loud! NOW?!"

"Sorry, but yes."

"Please tell me you're joking, although I got to say that it's in really bad taste."

He had to chuckle. That was a such familiar feeling from days long past. But eventually Sam sighed and mumbled a grumpy "fine".

He was no less grumpy once awake, but Dean attributed it to his forced awakening. Especially when Sam demanded to know what they were even up for, since they were not on a job. But Dean had already found a suspicious event. Someone had actually managed to get their head ripped off. Literally. And to a hunter, that didn't sound like the bear attack the local papers called it.

However, the town it had happened in was quite a way away, so they first had to get there and that meant hours upon hours in the impala with shitty music and his brother right next to him. Great. By the three hour mark, his head hurt and he was boiling with rage.

But then a soft 'Awwwh, poor Sammy' soothed his torment and Lucifer offered to manipulate his perception. It was kind of a deep incision and Sam should only do it if he really trusted him, but Sam was so done with dated rock he took the offer without a second thought.

After that, the radio appeared to change its repertoire and the next song was Jace Everett's Bad Things. At that only Lucifer's control over his body stopped him from popping a boner right next to his brother.

'I wanna do bad things to you, too, once we're alone again.'

 

As satisfying as his next night with Lucifer was, though, (and catching Dean totally engrossed in a crappy doctor drama, no matter how much he denied it) that sheriff could ruin even the nicest morning. Civilians and their logic.

'What else could it have been? Really? Even John Cena on a psychotic break would have been more likely than a bear when dealing with this kind of damage!'

'My thoughts exactly.'

'What an idiot.'

'Well, he is a civilian.'

'Logic does not require expertise. Only intelligence, which this stain clearly lacks. But I'm sure he is a pillar of the communiry, going to church every Sunday.'

'You know, it's actually kind of funny when an angel hates on religious people.'

'What can I say? I prefer a skeptic to a blind believer. It's a matter a self-respect.'

'For yourself. But concerning others?'

Abruptly his vision was overlaid by a scene from the Lion King, and Jeremy Irons' voice droned out the sheriff's with 'I am surrounded by idiots'.

Sam suppressed a chuckle before Dean or the sheriff could get suspicious and played along until they could talk to the widow, who made Lucifer groan all over again for accepting the idiocy despite having had the truth right in front of her.

But after that was done, Sam found an excuse to separate and left Dean to research about the husband, while he went to the house. Half an hour into arriving on the scene, Lucifer had to heal his back from the abraisons of the bark. So what if Lucifer was an exhibitionist? He simply liked to be adored. And while Sam preferred secrecy, it wasn't like anyone had been around to see them screwing like rabbits against a tree... Okay, maybe rabbits.

But they also had results now. There was no residual aura of demons or ghosts. Instead, there were candy wrappers. Lots of them.

"Do you think the news spread fast enough for kids to dare each other into coming here?"

"Not likely. The Incredible Hulk thing hasn't really gotten out yet, I think."

He hummed and headed back to Dean, who promptly confirmed the other option. Just deserts plus sweets could only mean one thing, really: The Trickster. Lucifer was instantly excited about meeting him, but then Dean had to say that he wanted to kill the pagan.

'Meh, idiot. Like a bloody civilian.'

'Why?'

'Because the trickster could be helpful, duh! But I guess a hunter will always be hunter.'

'Helpful?'

'Not you, too!'

'Well, I mean... Uh... Pagans are kind of easily dead, right? Not like you.'

'Alright, Sam. Then how about you tell me how he's still alive after facing you guys? Twice, in fact? Or is it three times now, considering that you brought a stick with you against him twice at the mystery spot alone? After you discovered him and after six months again?'

'Okay, he can be pretty evasive.'

'Exactly. He is clearly strong and on top of that slyer than most angels. And therefore also demons. He could be a formidable ally against them both.'

'But would he help us?'

'Do you really think he'd want the world to end? Who actually does that but those fanatics upstairs and the underprivileged below? To me, the trickster seems to be doing well with things as they are and he is obviously a hedonist. With hell on earth or heaven on earth, though, his fun would be cut short.'

Sam could only agree with that, so he suggested the same to Dean and while it took him some time, he managed to talk his brother into more or less agreeing to give it a shot. Then they only had to find him. Sam turned to Lucifer once more, but found himself getting rebuffed.

'Sam, this is not some witch, this is a trickster! They mess with fellow gods for a hobby. And pagans and angels are not particularly known to get along. So if I do find him, and that's a big if, but he spots me, and he might, then he could do some serious damage to you to dazzle me and flee before we get to talk. I'd rather hide for now. At least until you have explained to him that we come in peace.'

He sighed, but accepted it and resigned himself to monitoring the police scanner for further incidences.

 

Unexpectedly, that actually worked before he started getting stupid ideas from boredom. Something very strange was reported, so the brothers and the hidden angel up and left for an abandoned paper mill.

'Watch out now, Sam. There is power in there. Great power and it's very active.'

Considering himself prepared, Sam took a deep breath and the brothers entered. But there was no trickster to be seen on the other side. It was... weird. Were they doctors now? Was this an alternate reality? Lucifer? Help? Please?

'Don't worry, you are still where you were a moment ago. This is all artificial. Even the people. They have no souls. I suppose they must be animations of the trickster.'

They probably were and that meant that what they did was at his bidding. It caused a flare of purely negative and very intense feelings from the devil, when those animations started slapping his vessel, but no harm was done, so he could tolerate it.

As Dean started recognozing things, though, the brothers were getting uncomfortable. Was TV land a real thing now?

'Is it possible?'

'Well, this is big for a trickster, but apparently possible.'

'Big?'

'This particular trickster seems far more powerful than I am used to from their kind.'

But then Doctor Sexy approached. At once Dean sounded like he was going complete fangirl and Lucifer... .... ...? Lucifer sounded like nothing. He sounded like he was gone! Deep down Sam imagined that he still felt a presence, but their connection was extremely loose and utterly silent now.

What the hell was his problem now? Sam asked, demanded and yelled at him, but there was no reaction. It was irritating, he could not be ignored like that!

Then Dean identified the doctor as the trickster and things became clearer. Lucifer was merely hiding. Very intently. Maybe he was a bit paranoid. He hadn't hid like that against the demon and pagans should be less familiar with angels, he thought. But that was just an assumption. So whatever.

Sam couldn't quite hold back a little remark about exactly how well Dean knew the show he had claimed to have merely surfed through earlier, but the ease with which the god twisted Dean's arm away from his throat was scary and shed a new light on the easy atmosphere around the smiling creature.

Still Sam tried to tell the trickster about their proposal so Lucifer could reveal himself again. The trickster, however, was not overly talkative right then. Instead he told them to survive and denied them a proper explanatiom as to what he was talking about and then he was just gone.

'Okay, Luci, I don't like his attitude, but he's.... Luci? Are you listening? Damn you!'

He was not. In fact he was completely unresponsive and it pissed Sam off. The trickster was gone, why was he still getting ignored? Had he done something wrong? What was it? He'd make it up but he had to know what it was! He needed an answer! 'Any answer! Fuck! Luci! Damn you, talk to me! Bloody- Satan!!!'

No reaction. Dean got shot and Sam screamed at him to heal him. No reaction. He needed a translation for Japanese. No reaction. He got a nut shot, which caused him grave physical pain. Still no reaction.

Now he was not even just angry anymore. He was scared. Lucifer would always react when he was hurt. He would protect him. Now he didn't. Was something wrong? Could... oh god, could the trickster have somehow cut him off from Lucifer?! Was it possible for the pagan to block the angel?! They were talking about the devil here, a freaking archangel. Surely a pagan wouldn't have that kind of power!

_'This particular trickster seems far more powerful than I am used to from their kind.'_

Was it possible? He was desparing, but so was Dean, about to get his own nut shot and Sam was compelled to help him. He thought hard, trying to figure out what they could do. They were supposed to survive the game. His mind went into overdrive and finally he got Dean through the show unharmed. They just had to play along.

The herpexia ad that followed was fortunately just annoying and humiliating, not actually hurtful, but that might have been because of the playing along. He didn't want to know how this show could have killed them. And he begged for Lucifer. Fruitlessly.

By the time the sitcom came around, both brothers were getting queasy and started to fear that it might just not end. That it would go on forever. Forever without Lucifer. Out of the blue Sam could feel his eyes prickling with unshed tears at the mere thought and his despair sky-rocketed. He couldn't help it. He silently prayed ...to Lucifer and eventually to any fallen angel for any help at all.

Suddenly the door whipped open and a moment later the trickster jumped through with a huge, foreboding smile on his face, the audience applauding his arrival. Dean barely took another breath before bitching at him, while Sam kept his tone mostly neutral around the strangely powerful creature when he spoke. They had figured out what the game was, now they wanted to talk.

But nothing could have prepared him for the revelation of the other part of the 'game'. The trickster wanted them to say yes? Why? How could he?! That he clearly didn't know that Sam had said yes already and Lucifer was right there with them was a relief, but the shock was greater. The devil had thought that the trickster would help them, not this. How could he have been mistaken?

He couldn't comprehend it, but then Dean got into the trickster's face and insulted him like he had forgotten that that was a super-powered killer he was talking to. A surprisingly tolerant killer, who still had his limits. Sam winced when the pagan flung Dean against the wall and held him up without breaking a sweat despite being at least half a head smaller. But size never mattered with these things. And now the trickster was furious.

Sam shivered as he spoke and the scene around them changed again. A cop show. But it didn't matter. All that mattered now was that the trickster was definitely an enemy and that Lucifer was still silent. They would have to kill the pagan. He still wondered why. Why would the Trickster want the apocalypse? Why would he not even try to stop it? But some questions were never answered.

They impaled the bait and self-revealed Trickster both and were returned to the paper mill. But even with the enemy dead at their feet, there was not a word from the devil inside of him.

 

They had believed themselves victorious. But the feeling of triumph was short-lived. He was the car. Like in Knight Rider. Another show. The Trickster was still alive and had just changed the channel again. Was there no ending him? Lucifer had been so right. This thing was already strong and then even slyer. It could have been such an ally. Why was it an enemy?

And how the hell was it not dead? They had staked the Trickster before, but that could have been an animation. This time they had been sure that it had hit the real Trickster and he still survived. Thus the hunters started speculating. He didn't die like he should, didn't react to the apocalypse as a proper pagan would and the archangel fight had touched a sore spot.

That gave them an idea. And it would also explain to Sam why Lucifer had to hide so deeply. And then the inhabited vessel realized that he had reappeared after the prayer to all fallen angels. The Trickster was in fact an angel!

Since Dean had already been suspicious about that, it was not hard to convince him of the pseudo-pagan's secret species, but what could they do about it? They couldn't exactly kill angels. Lucifer could. But even after Sam's realization, he did not speak to him. Then they figured, while they couldn't kill an angel, they could do something else. Sam was a bit worried, being an angel's vessel, too, right then. But it was a bluff anyway.

So they parked and once ready summoned the unofficial angel to them. Dean got him to separate Sam from the Impala again and they confronted him.

"...Maybe you've always been an angel."

"A what?"

The Trickster laughed and very convincingly, too. But they were not fooled.

"Oh, not? So nothing will happen if I do this?"

And then Dean revealed the banishment sigil on the trunk lid of the Impala and pretended to smash his bloody palm against it.

"WAIT!!!"

Dean froze inches from the sigil and turned his face back around with a smirk. Now the not-trickster was not so smiley-faced anymore.

"Okay, fine. You got me. Jus- Just don't do that. It's never nice on an angel, but on a fallen one or in my case jumped it's even worse. So please don't."

He clapped his hands in mockery and they were back at the paper mill. For real now. Hopefully. But the angel looked wrecked enough to be somewhat sure. Maybe they would get some answers now. First of all he asked for the angel's actual name, as that might lead them to lore about him. And the answer chilled him to the bone.

Gabriel. The archangel Gabriel. Lucifer's protégé. The one person beside Sam that he would never enjoy the pain of. His most beloved younger brother. The one he had lost. So that was why the devil had disappeared in him. And then Gabriel explained why he wanted them to say yes. He told them of his pain. His heartbreak over his brothers' fight and his helplessness to stop it.

He didn't want the apocalypse, he wanted his suffering to stop. Like a mercy killing. For the first time now Sam could feel Lucifer again. Because the devil failed to block his pain from his vessel. Sam felt like he was getting flayed alive and drowned in ice water at the same time. He could only just stop himself from screaming, while the tears could not be held. Not his tears, though. Lucifer's.

The devil's emotions where bleeding through their mental separation and into his soul. He was breaking apart, just like his brother. And Dean just turned around. When he noticed Sam's paralysis, he shoved him into the Impala and before seating himself, he had some last, biting words for Gabriel, then he sat down and slammed the door. Thus he drove out, leaving the archangel behind.

Gathering himself a little, Sam asked his possessor in a whisper if he didn't want to talk to Gabriel, but the quivering presence in him just curled further in on itself. After that, he could only do his damnest to hide from Dean. Who in his anger had thankfully not noticed the wetness on Sam's face. Or maybe that was due to not letting Gabriel out of his eye, like he was expecting an attack. But none would come. The angel was too wounded to fight.

 

Sleep took him back to his mind palace again. But this night, there was no horny devil waiting for him. So he searched his mind palace for him. Every bedroom, every corridor, every library and hall. Everything. After hours of that, he almost despaired.

But then he found a feather on the floor. He picked it up. It was brilliant white in the center and at the root, but slightly singed at the end like all the devil's feathers. He searched on in each direction from there until he found another feather and then followed the trail.

For a moment he thought that maybe he was being led somewhere on purpose, but then he found a fistful feathers at once and they were still connected at the root by a strip of flesh. After that, the trail of feathers was accompanied by a trail of bloodstains. More feather heaps followed, with skin, flesh and blood clinging to them each time.

They had been ripped out. And the further Sam went, the more frightened he grew about their number. Lucifer did have six big wings. But those had limits, too. And the trail of blood was almost continuous now. So much blood...

Then Sam realized where the trail was headed. To the no-fun dungeon. Lucifer's torture chamber.

He almost turned around. He just knew that he did not want to see what he would find in there. But he knew now that it would get worse the longer that he stayed away. So he forced himself to go in there and swallowed bile at what he saw therein.

He had found Lucifer.

Few feathers remained to his once mighty wings and the red limbs now looked more like a discolored mantis than a bird's wings, much less an angel's. But his torso was in no better state. Hooks were coming out of it that left the creature sitting in a lake of his own blood. On every ragged breath he tugged on them and more blood welled forth.

But still Sam suspected that the tears running down the angel's cheeks, throat, over his collarbones and down his chest by now had little to do with his physical injuries. This was the pain in his heart. Sam did not even know how to speak to that victim of his own torture. But he didn't need to. The fallen angel had noticed him now. And his voice from hoarse from hours of screeching his pain to the walls of this chamber.

"I did this to him."

"Luci, don't be like that. You onl-"

"I did this to him and I didn't even care! I saw the pain in his eyes even then, but I didn't care for that. All that mattered to me was that I was right and Michael and Dad had to see that. I never even considered how Gabriel would be affected! I let him suffer... I drove him away."

Sam wanted to argue against that and he firmly believed that it was God's fault, as he had made them all to be what they were, causing everything in existence, so it couldn't be Lucifer's fault for being a pawn in God's game. But he could see that Lucifer was in no mood to listen to that. Even though it was his own explanation in every other matter he had been blamed for. But Sam knew that state of mind. He felt so guilty that no reasoning would be able to get him out of it. So the vessel needed another course.

"Maybe you did. I don't-"

"Maybe? I know it and I knew it then! I just didn't care. I was so selfish, so angry! To blind with hate! I-"

"Let me speak!"

"No, Sam, you have no idea wh-"

"SHUT UP!"

"I can't! I can't forget what I did to my own baby brother! You don't get that, Sam, you-"

But Sam had enough and the slap echoed in the silence that followed. Lucifer just stared, blinking up at him in disbelief. Sam didn't believe it, either. Lucifer had tortured himself for hours and now Sam had slapped him. Well, he couldn't take it back now. He had to go on, but it might even work, because Lucifer was so shocked he was actually listening now.

"Do not interrupt me again for your little pity fest. You LISTEN to me now, because I had been going to say: Maybe you did. I don't know, I wasn't there. But I know one thing. I know that you changed. You fell as your father had planned it, an adversary to drive the people into his arms and service. But now you don't do what he wants anymore. You rebel against the apocalypse! And, Lucifer, you know that that's what Gabriel wants, too! He is just too hopeless to work for it. But he doesn't know that you're working for it as well. He knows that he couldn't keep you and Michael apart, but he does not know that he doesn't have to! Give him hope again, Lucifer. Luci, tell him that you regret it and love him and won't fight!"

The devil looked up at him, thinking, maybe even hoping, but it was still feeble, so Sam added something:

"One more thing: You are my personal guardian angel, so when I call for you to help me, when I am hurt, you answer. And so you will not fail me with that when I need you, you will now heal yourself. This is disturbing and I don't want to see you like this."

Lucifer twitched, but didn't actually move and then the hooks in him dissolved and the wounds closed themselves. Even his feathers regrew and he actually looked like an angel again. Still miserable and above all uncertain, but like an angel. And he looked attentive. He was waiting, Sam realized. For a comment or the next order?

This place, this situation suddenly reminded him of Azazel's words about Lucifer awaiting Sam's blessing before he had really started. Angels had a desire to obey. Obey God, usually. But Lucifer hated God. Okay, that was a bit too deep for him at the moment, especially as Lucifer was still waiting on him, even though he didn't appear to be aware of that.

"Good. You look much better like this."

"...Sam, I deserved it. I'd deserve more after what I did."

"No, you don't. And don't you dare do something like this again just because you disagree with me. You are in no state to make a reasonable judgement about this. You are too emotional, it's too personal. I am the objective one here, so you will have to trust my judgement in this. And from my point of view, you are punished enough. That cage messed you up way too much for speaking your mind, especially as you were right, so I shall deem that a just punishment, simply for another crime. Consider your time in the cage your punishment for hurting Gabriel like that. Understood?"

Still wide-eyed and staring up at Sam, he nodded. His encagement and resulting isolation had been horrible and underserved for the crime he had been condemned for. He had been right. Michael was a spineless traitor and his Father much more than that. But for breaking Gabriel's heart, the cage had been deserved. Maybe Sam's objective view was indeed helpful.

He was a bit uneasy about getting ordered by his human vessel, but the more he thought about it, the more he had to agree. His 'pity fest' had put Sam in danger. He had neglected his vessel for his need to punish himself. Maybe he should really entrust such decisions to Sam. It was not like he was submitting. That was behind him. It was!

But Sam was his other half and by definition, halves were equal partitions. So maybe he could let Sam decide for him when needed and in turn decide for his vessel on other occasions. Sam had let him decide a lot so far. He always listened to the devil's advice. Maybe it was his turn now.

He really was too raw to rule himself reasonably right then. So he let Sam take charge over him and when the human softly told him to speed back to the paper mill, so they could hopefully still catch Gabriel and talk to him for real, he acted without a second thought. He had hope again. A hope that vanished just as quickly as it had appeared upon finding only desolation.

Gabriel had already flown away and Lucifer no longer restrained himself within his vessel. He screamed out his agony with his true voice, while the building shivered around him and cold swept from him outwards. But cold and vibrations were not kind to the metal. With the temperature making it brittle, the sound waves cracked it.

But Lucifer did not care when the building shattered around him and the ceiling came crashing down. His unseen wings shielded his vessel and set the rubble on fire. In the middle of burning débris, he sobbed. He had missed his chance.

'We will see him again.'

'Sam, this was the first time in mil-'

'I said we will see him again. And I think he might need some time to think as well, after everything that happened today. But you will see him again, I promise. When we avert the apocalypse, he will certainly take notice. And maybe then he'll even come to you. To us.'

They returned to Sam's bed beside Dean's and from there to the mind palce, where Sam held the trembling angel for the rest of the night to comfort him, who he had lost his beloved baby brother a second time. In the morning the ruin was already discovered and in the news as result of a strange weather phenomenon. Dean attributed it to Gabriel. And Gabriel considered that an option, too.

He had certainly destroyed some random things on his path without looking. And many bad people suffered worse and even more candy stores been ransacked as he tried to calm himself again. Dean was right. He had to stop running now.

So Gabriel resigned himself to face his family. Lucifer.

**Author's Note:**

> How does this work for you?


End file.
